Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0432222 (SEM)
 47,337 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

X-Prolyl dipeptidyl-aminopeptidase activities in cerebrospinal fluid and serum from the same patients without neurological diseases, undergoing surgery under lumbar anesthesia, were assayed fluorometrically with a newly synthesized fluorogenic substrate, 7-glycylproline-4-methylcoumarinamide; the values were 129.1 +/- 19.5 nmoles/min/l and 54.17 +/- 3.11 mumoles/min/l (mean +/- SEM, n = 23), respectively, and there was no correlation between both activities (r = 0.0894).
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PMID:Comparison of X-prolyl dipeptidyl-aminopeptidase activity in human cerebrospinal fluid with that in serum. 42 86

This study demonstrates that the hexapeptide angiotensin II-(3-8) and L-arginine, generated through enzymatic degradation of angiotensin, mediate endothelium-dependent dilation in rabbit brain arterioles. Topical application of angiotensin II (10(-5) M) on the brain surface of anesthetized rabbits caused 21.6 +/- 4.5% (mean +/- SEM) cerebral arteriolar dilation. The cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin did not change this dilation. The natural degradation product of angiotensin II in the brain, angiotensin III, also induced vasodilation at concentrations of 10(-7) to 10(-5) M. The dilation to angiotensin II and angiotensin III was eliminated in the presence of 10(-5) M methylene blue, a known inhibitor of endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Amastatin, an aminopeptidase inhibitor and blocker of enzymatic angiotensin degradation, also inhibited the response to angiotensin II and angiotensin III. The angiotensin fragment angiotensin II-(3-8), which lacks the amino-terminal L-arginine residue of angiotensin III, did not elicit an arteriolar response. When angiotensin II-(3-8) was topically applied subsequent to L-arginine, a 21.2 +/- 2.9% vasodilation was observed. L-Arginine itself induced only moderate vasodilation with a maximum of 4.0 +/- 0.9% at 10(-5) M L-arginine. The dilating response to angiotensin II-(3-8) after L-arginine was inhibited by methylene blue. It was not affected by amastatin. It is concluded that degradation products of angiotensin, rather than angiotensin II itself, induce endothelium-dependent dilation in rabbit brain arterioles without involvement of cyclooxygenase products.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Angiotensin degradation products mediate endothelium-dependent dilation of rabbit brain arterioles. 203 15

Ingestion of larval nematodes (family: Anisakidae) can cause the human disease known as anisakiasis. After ingestion, Anisakis larvae can be invasive, penetrating host stomach or intestinal wall. Observation of larvae penetrating the tissue layers of human stomach in vitro by SEM showed tunnels and burrows were formed in the mucosa and submucosa. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that secreted proteases may be involved in the degradation of host tissue macromolecules to allow tunnel formation. Using a model of connective tissue extracellular matrix (ECM), we found that as few as 5 Anisakis simplex larvae could degrade approximately 25% of the ECM in a 16-mm culture well in 24 hr. Further characterization of the secreted proteases using synthetic peptide substrates and inhibitors revealed that there were 2 classes of proteases present: a metallo aminopeptidase and a trypsinlike serine protease. Extracts of Anisakis larvae contained a 25-kDa protease that was recognized by rabbit anti-rat trypsin antibody on western blots. This suggests that there is structural as well as functional similarity between the Anisakis trypsin and vertebrate trypsins.
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PMID:Identification of the secreted neutral proteases from Anisakis simplex. 221 5

Vasopressin (VP)-converting aminopeptidase (VP-AP) activity and VP contents were measured in single rat pineal glands during the summer of two successive years. The peptidase activity decreased significantly in August. The lowest activity (+/- SEM) of 0.18 +/- 0.02 pmol.hour-1 was recorded on August 14, compared to the basal activity of 0.25 +/- 0.01 pmol.hour-1 in July and September of 1986. The change with similar percentage occurred in the same period of 1987. The specific activity of the enzyme in the crude homogenate, 15,000 g pellet and supernatant fraction of rat pineal glands, exhibited the same pattern of variations. The decrease in peptidase activity coincided with the previously reported dramatic rise in pineal VP content in early August which was confirmed in this series of experiments. Another peptidase, the so-called gamma-endorphin generating endopeptidase (gamma-EGE) activity, and beta-endorphin-related peptides in the pineal gland did not change in this period. The results show that the variations of pineal VP contents and VP-AP activity during summer are not general for other peptides and peptidases. The coincidence of opposite changes in VP content and VP-AP activity of the pineal gland may indicate a role of the peptidase activity to regulate the VP content.
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PMID:Changes in vasopressin-converting aminopeptidase activity in the rat pineal gland during summer: relationship to vasopressin contents. 297 42

Tyr-Gly-Gly (YGG) was recently shown to be an extraneuronal metabolite of opioid peptides derived from proenkephalin A, formed in brain by the action of "enkephalinase" (membrane metalloendopeptidase, EC 3.4.24.11) and degraded by aminopeptidases. The dynamic state of YGG in mouse striatum was studied by evaluating the changes in its level elicited by inhibitors of these peptidases. Inhibition of YGG synthesis by Thiorphan or acetorphan reduced YGG levels with a t1/2 (mean +/- SEM) of 12 +/- 2 min, indicating an apparent turnover rate (mean +/- SEM) of 18 +/- 2 pmol/mg of protein per hr. An apparent turnover rate of 18 +/- 2 pmol/mg of protein per hr was derived from the rate of YGG accumulation elicited by the aminopeptidase inhibitor bestatin. In addition, accumulation of Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met (YGGFM) in an extrasynaptosomal fraction after blockade of its degradation by Thiorphan and bestatin occurred at a rate of 18 +/- 3 pmol/mg of protein per hr, which is likely to reflect the rate of enkephalin release in vivo. Hence, the three series of data suggest that striatal enkephalins rapidly turn over--e.g., with a t1/2 in the 1-hr range. Pentobarbital anesthesia reduced by about 60% the rate of YGG accumulation elicited by bestatin and the extrasynaptosomal YGGFM accumulation elicited by Thiorphan and bestatin. This suggests that the activity of striatal enkephalin neurons is depressed during anesthesia. Pentobarbital (and chloral hydrate) did not affect the steady-state level of YGGFM but rapidly reduced that of YGG. Hence, the steady-state levels of YGG seem a reliable index of changes in enkephalin release, and measuring levels of characteristic fragments might therefore provide a general means of evaluating neuropeptide release in vivo.
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PMID:Steady-state level and turnover rate of the tripeptide Tyr-Gly-Gly as indexes of striatal enkephalin release in vivo and their reduction during pentobarbital anesthesia. 352 54

Ubiquitin is often implicated as a specific tag for protein degradation via the ubiquitin system although only a limited number of physiological proteins have been shown to be degraded in their native tissues via this pathway in vivo. Ubiquitin may also, however, have other functions of a regulatory nature (non-catabolic ubiquitylation). The ubiquitylation of calmodulin appears to fall into this category. Ubiquitin is linked to free calmodulin in the presence of the second messenger Ca2+ by the enzyme ubiquitin-calmodulin ligase (uCaM synthetase: EC 6.3.2.21) and there is no evidence that this step is followed by degradation of calmodulin via the ATP-dependent 26-S protease. Due to a lack of natural substrates and sufficient tissue material, only a few components of the ubiquitin system have been obtained in truly homogeneous form from reticulocytes. We therefore decided to attempt this for the calmodulin ligase. The enzymic components of the uCaM synthetase system copurified over several steps and could be highly enriched by a novel sample displacement technique on an ion-exchange resin. A fractionation of the synthetase components by affinity chromatography on ubiquitin-Sepharose and calmodulin-Sepharose yielded two essentially inactive components: a ubiquitin-Sepharose binding fraction (uCaM Syn-F1) and a calmodulin-Sepharose binding fraction (uCaM Syn-F2). The full activity of uCaM synthetase can be reconstituted when these two fractions are reunited. uCaM Syn-F1 could then be separated from all other enzymes of ubiquitin metabolism and, employing the second component with the natural substrate calmodulin, could be purified over 3500-fold to homogeneity. The ability to catalyze its own thiol labile ubiquitylation identified it as a member of the ubiquitin-activating enzyme family (E1). The homogeneous preparation contained a single protein of molecular mass 213 +/- 21 kDa (mean +/- SEM) as determined by gel filtration. The molecular mass of the monomer was determined by electrospray ion mass spectrometry to 112,140 +/- 47 Da (mean +/- SD). N-terminal sequence analysis (20 amino acids) led to a single N-terminal peptide beginning at residue 57 of the known rabbit cDNA sequence. No ragged N-terminus was detected, as would be expected by the action of an aminopeptidase or other peptidases of low specificity. The monomer molecular mass calculated from the cDNA sequence (Arg57-Arg1058) is 111,975 Da, characterizing this enzyme from reticulocytes as a homodimer of 224 kDa.
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PMID:The ubiquityl-calmodulin synthetase system from rabbit reticulocytes: isolation of the ubiquitin-binding first component, a ubiquitin-activating enzyme. 971 91

The effects of cryopreservation on two characteristics of human spermatozoa were investigated: the early phases of disturbed plasma membrane function and the activity of enzymes in intact spermatozoa. The membrane function was detected by means of the calcium-dependent binding of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated Annexin V to sperm plasma membranes. Annexin V monitors the translocation of phosphatidylserine from the inner to the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane, which is one of the earliest features of membrane disintegration. For the second aim synthetic fluorogenic substrates for peptidases, proteinases, esterases, elastases and collagenases were applied. These substrates, CellProbe trade mark reagents consist of different peptide sequences, specific for the enzymes, and a fluorescein- or rhodamine 110-dye moiety. They enter the cells without previous membrane permeabilisation and exhibit fluorescence after cleavage depending on enzyme activity. The number of positive cells and the intensity of the fluorescence were determined by flow cytometric analysis comparing fresh spermatozoa with cryopreserved ones. Thirty-five semen samples collected from 35 donors were cryopreserved using the freezing medium TEST yolk buffer. All specimens showed normal spermiogram parameters. Twenty-five of the samples were used for detection of Annexin V-FITC binding and 10 semen samples for investigations of the intracellular enzymes. The Annexin V-assay applied two fluorescent dyes (Annexin V, AN and propidium iodide, PI) which led to three groups of spermatozoa (a) viable spermatozoa (AN V-negative and PI-negative), (b) dead spermatozoa (AN V-positive and PI-positive) and (c) cells with impaired but integer plasma membrane (AN V-positive and PI-negative). The percentage of vital Annexin V-negative spermatozoa (x +/- SEM) decreased significantly (p < 0.001) from fresh spermatozoa (51.6 +/- 3.1) to cryopreserved spermatozoa (26.6 +/- 2.2%) and was associated with their motility (57.9 +/- 1.9% motile fresh spermatozoa vs. 22.6 +/- 3.9% motile sperm after cryopreservation). Of the spermatozoa 28.2% were Annexin V-positive before and 44.4% after cryostorage even though they did not bind to PI. Thus, vital spermatozoa showed a disturbed membrane function indicating viability before as well as after cryostorage. Moreover, after cryopreservation the spermatozoal fluorescence increased applying substrates for butyryl esterase (p < 0.05), prolyl-aminopeptidase (p < 0.001) and val-lys-(VK)-cathepsin (p < 0.001). In contrast, the activities of fluorescein diacetate (FDA)- and FDA/sodium fluoride (NAF)-esterase (p < 0.05), ala-ala-pro-val-(AAPV)-elastase (p < 0.001), gly-pro-leu-gly-pro-(GPLGP)-collagenase (p < 0.05) and gly-gly-leu-(GGL)-subtilisin (p < 0.001) decreased after cryopreservation. The substrates for arg-gly-glut-ser-(RGES)-elastase, gly-phenyl-gly-ala-(GFGA)-collagenase and threo-pro-(TP)-cathepsin were not cleaved before as well as after cryostorage. In addition to the known effects of sperm cryopreservation our results showed two further alterations of human ejaculated spermatozoa: (a) disturbed plasma membrane function, which is not detectable by supravital staining and (b) a changed pattern of intracellular enzyme activities.
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PMID:Hidden effects of cryopreservation on quality of human spermatozoa. 1525 59